Hand-held paintbrush wringer



March 4, 1969 v. J BOWNES 3,430,286

HANDHELD PAINT BRUSH WRINGER Filed April 10, 1967 Sheet of 2 INVENTOR.24 major l BOW/765 ATTORNEY O March 4, 1969 v. J. BOWNES HANDHELD PAINTBRUSH WRINGER Sheet 2 of2 Filed Apr pl 10, 1967 INVENTOR. V4 0 fofl JBow/76s ,4 fTakA e YJ United States Patent 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A hand-held device for wringing liquids from articles, forexample the bristles of paint brushes or the like, comprising asubstantially U-shaped handle having bristleengaging members projectinglaterally of the handle from the ends of the legs of the U and locatedat one side of the handle, which legs are normally yieldingly urged toposition the members in spaced relation to enable the bristles to bedisposed between them and to be moved into engagement with the bristlesby the gripping action of the hand on the legs of the U to move themtoward one 'another and to remove material from the bristles as thedevice is thereafter moved along the bristles.

Heretofore it has been the practice to wipe the bristles of a paintbrush on the side of the opening in a paint container to remove materialfrom the bristles. Where Wringer devices have been provided they havebeen builtin, or made a part of, or have been secured to the container.The prior arrangements have not been entirely satisfactory and have beenrestrictive in their use.

The present invention'provides a hand-held wringing device which isportable and readily elTective for removing paint or other material fromthe bristles of a paint brush or from other articles from which it isdesired to remove liquid material.

This is accomplished by a readily portable hand-held device having asubstantially U-shaped handle provided at the free ends of the legs ofthe U with cooperating laterally projecting contact elements located toone side of the handle and which are normally and yieldably held inspaced relation to readily receive between them the bristles of a brushor other article from which it is desired to wring liquid material. Thecontact members are then moved into engagement with the bristles by thegripping of the handle by one hand so as to move the legs of theU-shaped handle toward one another. Thereafter the contact members aredrawn along the bristles to wring the liquid material from the bristles.

The contact members may be rollers or wiper arms having rounded orrolled edges thereon and the handle can comprise relatively narrowstraight legs connected by a spring bow and which can be encircled by ahand in the gripping operation, or can be a relatively broadhandreceiving resilient band forming curved, spaced-apart legs connectedby a bow portion with the legs providing a broad hand-engaging grip tobe grasped by the hand to move the ends of the legs toward one another.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thespecification and claims when considered in connection with theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a wringing device of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the wringing device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top view partly in section of the device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the device of FIG. 1 showing a paint brush inposition.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing another form of theinvention.

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FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing still another form of theinvention.

FIG. 7 is a front view of FIG. 6.

As shown in the drawings, the device of the present invention is asimple device for wringing a liquid from an article and which is readilyportable and capable of being held and operated by one hand. For thepurpose of illustrating the invention it will be described in itspreferred used of wringing paint from the bristles of a paint brush.

In the form of the invention shown in FIGS. 14, the device comprises asubstantially U-shaped handle 10 including the elongate relativelynarrow legs 11, 12 connected at one end by a resilient bow portion 13,preferably of spring steel.

A pair of contact members 14, 14a are carried by the free ends of thelegs 11, 12 and project laterally of the handle so as to be located atan angle to and at one side of the handle 10. The contact members inthis form of the invention comprise rollers 15, 16 rotatable on shafts17, 18. The shafts are mounted on the free ends of the legs 11, 12 byhaving portions disposed within sleeves 19, 20. The sleeves 19, 20 arecarried by the legs 11, 12 and may be integral therewith or weldedthereto.

Stop means is carried by the free ends of the shafts 17, 18 to hold therollers thereon. While this may take various forms, as shown in FIGS. 1and 3 it comprises portions 21, 22 crimped from the shafts 17, 18 withwashers 23, 24 interposed between the crimp and the end of the roller.Washers 25, 26 are disposed between the rollers and the adjacent end ofthe sleeve insuring free rotation of the rollers on the shaft. The endsof the shafts project from the other end of the sleeve and are threadedto receive the lock nuts 27, 28. With this construction it will be seenthat the elements of the device can be readily made and assembled.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the spring bow 13 yieldably holds the ends ofthe legs and the rollers canried thereby in a normal spaced relation sothat a paint brush A can be readily inserted with its bristles Bdisposed between the rollers 15, 16 as shown in FIG. 4. The handencircles the legs 11, 12, which are located to one side of thebristles, and in response to a gripping action thereon moves the rollersin the direction of the arrows in FIG. 4 to the dotted position in whichthey grip the bristles. The wringing device is then moved along thebristles to the free end thereof and will wring the paint therefrom.This only requires the use of one hand and frees the other hand to holdthe paint brush if desired. Since the contact members are located to oneside of the handle, this can be done without soiling the hand. As soonas the grip is released the rollers automatically move to their normalspread position.

If desired, means can be provided for limiting the movement of the legsas they move toward one another to prevent engagement or binding of therollers. While this may take many forms, as herein illustrated in FIGS.1 and 3, it comprises a blocking member 29 carried by sleeve 19 andpositioned to engage sleeve 20 just prior to the engagement of therollers so that undue pressure cannot be applied to the end of therollers and cause them to skew.

The form of the invention shown in FIG. 5 is similar to that shown inFIGS. 14 except that the contact members are formed as rigid wipers. "Inthis form the substantially U-shaped handle 10a has elongate narrow legs11a, 12a connected by the resilient bow 13a. Secured to the free ends ofthe legs is a pair of rigid wipers 25, 26 which are curled or rolled asat 25a, 26a to apply a wringing and/ or wiping action to the bristleswhen the handle portions 11a, 12a are gripped by one hand and movetowards one another and then move along the bristles.

In the form of the invention shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the handle 10bcomprises a broad resilient band, preferably of spring steel, shaped asshown to provide curved legs 11b, 12b and the bow 13b. The free ends ofthe legs are spaced as shown and provided with a hollow bead formingsleeves 19b, 20b in which are mounted shafts 17b, 18b so as to projectlaterally from one side of the handle, as shown in FIG. 6, and carrywringing rollers 15b, 16b, which shafts are held in position by locknuts 27b, 28b. As shown in FIG. 7 the rollers and free ends of the legs11b, 12b are in normally spaced relation and by gripping the handle,preferably by one hand, so as to move the ends of the legs toward oneanother the rollers can be moved into engagement with bristles of apaintbrush and the paint wrung therefrom in response to moving saidrollers over the bristles.

It will be seen, therefore, that the present invention provides ahand-held wringing device which is easily made and/or assembled, issimple to operate with one hand, and is readily portable as required.

I claim:

1. A hand-held wringing device for the bristles of paint brushes and thelike articles from which liquid is to be removed comprising asubstantially U-shaped handle of resilient material having brushcontacting members connected to the free ends of the legs of the U withsaid contacting members projecting at substantially right angles to anddisposed laterally of the handle to be located on one side of thehandle, said handle urging and yieldably holding said contacting membersin a normal spaced relation to have a brush disposed therebetween andmoving said members from said normal position into wringing relationwith the brush in response to gripping pressure of the hand applied tothe legs of the U-shaped handle whereby material is thereafter wrungfrom the bristles in response to movement of the contacting members oversaid bristles.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein blocking means isprovided for limiting the inward movement of the legs in wringingposition.

3. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein the U- shaped handle ismade from resilient spring material.

4. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein the bow portion of theU-shaped handle is made of resilient spring material.

5. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein the contacting memberscomprise rollers mounted on the free ends of a pair of laterallyprojecting shafts, each shaft having the other end secured to the freeend of a leg of the U-shaped handle.

6. The invention as defined in claim 5 wherein said handle comprises abroad strip forming curved, spacedapart legs and a bow connecting oneend of said logs, the free end of the legs having means for securing theshafts thereto, said legs providing a broad, hand-engaging grip to begrasped by a hand for moving the free ends toward one another to movethe contact elements into wringing relation with the bristles.

7. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein the contacting memberscomprise a pair of wiper arms, each having one end connected to the freeend of a leg of the U-shaped handle, said wiper arms having a roundedbristle-engaging edge thereon.

8. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said handle comprisesnarrow legs, each connected at one end to a bow portion, said narrowlegs providing a grip portion adapted to be encircled by one hand andgripped thereby to move said legs toward one another and said contactmembers into wringing engagement with the bristles.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,043,643 6/ 1936 Yenne.1,478,835 12/1923 Peacock et a1. 1,691,086 11/ 1928 Schwarz 1*5262v1,699,993 1/1929 Rosensteel 151 1,947,833 2/ 1934 :Dolbier 152102,724,848 11/ 1955 =Horvath 15-262 X FOREIGN PATENTS 29,999 12/ 1913Great Britain. 40,742 8/ 1965 Germany.

BILLY J. WILH'ITE, Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R.

